Low-temperature sintering of (U,Pu)O2 MOX in mild oxidative conditions
Source abstract
Abstract
We compare typical reductive sintering conditions for U, Pu mixed oxides (4 h at 1700 °C in Ar/6 % H 2 + 1200 ppm H 2 O) with lower temperature and mildly oxidative conditions (2 h at 1200 °C in CO/CO 2 = 1/9) and report on the resulting microstructures and homogeneity. We show that lower temperature and mildly oxidative conditions, without cover gas change, can give close-to stoichiometric, crack-free MOX pellets with a relative density of ∼ 95 %, and we propose ways to improve the homogenisations of PuO 2 and UO 2 and increase the grain size.
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Research context
OpenAlex topics: Nuclear Materials and Properties · Radioactive element chemistry and processing · Nuclear materials and radiation effects
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References (25)
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